2025 Fall Shopping Trends According to Our Editors
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As summer winds down, it’s time to put away those summer dresses and micro shorts to make room for coats and sheer tights, just in time for the leaves to change. With fall just around the corner, the Who What Wear team is breaking down the biggest trends we’ll see this season. As Who What Wear’s associate director of special projects, Kristen Nichols, notes, there’s been a resurgence of faux and upcycled fur.
“It’s actually kind of a surprising one, because we haven’t seen that sense of like furry and faux fur on the runways in quite some time,” Nichols said. “It was kind of shocking, but it made a big impact.”
Who What Wear’s associate shopping editor, Audry Hiaoui, is predicting that preppy style will be back, as well. “I feel like that’s always a little bit of my personal style anyway, but I’m excited to be seeing the polo dresses and polo shirts and things like that coming back, too,” Hiaoui said.
On the latest episode of The Who What Wear Podcast, our editors share their favorite fall runway trends, the items they are adding to their closets in the coming months, and more. For excerpts from their conversation, scroll below.
Give us a little overview of the trends that we saw on the fall-winter runways this past spring?
Kristen Nichols: There were so many great trends. One of the most talked about trends on the runways was this resurgence of faux fur and upcycled fur.
We saw these really plush outerwear pieces at Altuzarra, right off the bat at New York Fashion Week. Then, at Milan Fashion Week, there were these really incredible coats at Prada that had these beautiful faux-fur collars. Then, Miuccia [Prada] continued that at Miu Miu with these really incredible stoles.
We just saw these furry elements in almost every iteration, whether it was the full coat or an accessory, so I think that will be a really key trend for fall. It’s actually kind of a surprising one, because we haven’t seen that sense of like furry and faux fur on the runways in quite some time. It was kind of shocking, but it made a big impact. Another one of the biggest trends was this focus on really feminine fashion codes. To bring it back to Miuccia [Prada] again. In Miuccia Prada’s show notes at Prada, she posed the question, “What does femininity mean today?”
I think that was on the mind of a lot of designers, and they were kind of reinterpreting how women are dressing today and maybe how women dressed in the past, and kind of bringing those together. We saw these kinds of almost nostalgic nods to femininity, but brought into the modern time in modern ways. There were lots of slip dresses, bullet bras, car coats, voluminous bows, and a lot of satin.
I think the brands that really showcased this in the strongest sense were Prada, Schiaparelli, Fendi, Miu Miu, and Givenchy, just to name a few. I think that’ll make a big impact on how people will be getting dressed this fall.
I want to jump back to the trend you mentioned: femininity. Are we starting to see this trend trickle into the market already early September? What are you seeing?
KN: We’ve definitely seen this since last year, actually. I think we’ve seen the rise of the kind of satin and lace slip skirt, which has been huge. I’ve been a big fan myself, and that’s starting to evolve into other iterations.
Of course, like the Dôen shorts were the shorts you couldn’t get in your cart even if you wanted to, because they sold out like practically immediately, even after they restocked recently.
ULLA JOHNSON
Rosine Lace-Trimmed Silk Crepe De Chine Midi Skirt
KN: Then, I think, for fall, we’ll see more slip dresses. The Phoebe Philo dress is kind of the one every fashion girl wants in their closet, but there are so many other versions. I think that will continue to be big for fall.
phoebe philo
Slicked Slip
j.crew
Collection Lace Slip Dress
A lot of the other elements of femininity will be big, as well, but I don’t see them in the fashion space quite yet. I think we’re seeing early signs of it. For example, the satin bullet bra is maybe not the most wearable, but it has already popped up in some editorial shoots.
I think it has street-style written all over it, whether you tap the more editorial bullet bra or maybe just a satin bra layered underneath something. I think we’ll see that a lot this season.
Any favorites from what Kristen just mentioned, or in general for you?
Audry Hiaoui: I feel like faux-fur definitely was a big one. I wasn’t expecting to love it this much. I think as someone who usually is wearing a black wool coat—obviously very classic, still very necessary for fall—I’m excited to kind of switch up and choose something a little bit more playful and have that in the rotation, too. I definitely will be getting a little faux fur coat to wear this fall. Preppy style was all over the runways, too.
I feel like that’s always a little bit of my personal style anyway, but I’m excited to be seeing the polo dresses and polo shirts and things like that coming back, too.
la ligne
Striped Ben Polo
So, we saw a lot of these moodier looks also. You know, black lace, sheer chiffon, leather, Victorian ruffles… If this isn’t part of your normal style, but you want to play into this moody look, where should you shop?
AH: One of the things in this style that really stood out to me is the sheer pieces. I think that one of the easiest ways is to get a sheer black skirt. For fall, you can pair that with a black sheer tight and then a turtleneck on top.
I also think that you can do a lot of things with vintage leather pieces. For jackets, I love shopping them on eBay. Some of the search terms that I use are “Wilson’s Leather,” “Colebrook & Co,” and “Jones New York.”
Or just search something like “’90s zip front-tie leather jacket.” I think that leather and sheer skirts are two really fun ways to kind of engage with those trends.
vince
Sheer Stretch-Silk Overlay Skirt
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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